While I try to eat a relatively healthy diet most of the time, I do have some comfort foods which are less than ideal. One of these is corned beef hash with poached eggs. As the thermometer plummeted outside, I decided I needed hash. At my local Food Lion, I searched the shelf. There were three brands and, being the budget shopper that I am, I chose the store brand. Only after I went to open the can did I realize it was from Brazil…actually labeled BRASIL on the can.
My first thought was tariffs should have made this the most expensive choice. My second thought was why are we importing a product with beef and potatoes from Brazil? How can it be cheaper to do that? Not only was I taking in unhealthy calories, I was probably also contributing to the destruction of the rain forest.
One of my other comfort foods, chocolate, may also contribute to said destruction, but I know we can’t grow cocoa beans here. Of course, if we take over Venezuela, perhaps chocolate and not oil would be the real boon. But I digress.
Our food system continues to amaze me. We have large herds of beef cattle in Virginia as well as flocks of sheep. Yet we import lamb and beef from Australia. Often our greenhouse tomatoes come from Canada. How can it be cheaper to heat a greenhouse in Canada than in more temperate regions of the United States?
A few years ago, someone came up with the idea to build a greenhouse tomato growing operation in Eastern Kentucky. It would provide jobs in depressed areas. I believe solar energy was to supply the heat. That sounded like a win/win to me. I believe J.D. Vance was one of the investors. Last I heard, the project had died, but I don’t know why. I think I will look into that—I feel a need for investigative reporting on the subject. Meanwhile I will eat my chocolate and hash with only a little guilt.